Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia

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were considering withdrawing from the election process, and the need to identify pressures that determine the long-term dedication of members in a coalition. (See page 67.) Increasing Democratic Space Women’s Movement The women’s movement in Cambodia spans a decade and a wide range of important issues. The movement was constrained by previous policies that valued women primarily for the support they could provide to their husbands, outdated laws, and conventional norms regarding the role of women. In order to demonstrate that Cambodian women are in need of greater protection under the law, it was necessary for NGOs to conduct a series of studies that would dispel any doubts regarding the severity of the domestic violence problem. Despite proof derived from the studies, initial efforts to pass domestic violence legislation failed when the draft was at the Council of Ministers due to a lack of sufficient awareness raising and lobbying at the national level. Current efforts to pass legislation have used much more elaborate strategies, including national workshops, television spots, and the telling of personal stories. The domestic violence law is expected to pass in 2002. In other areas, grassroots organizing is being conducted to inform commercial sex workers in the Phnom Penh area of their rights and to prevent their illegal detention. The women involved have become empowered through solidarity built around the issue and have organized marches on the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and City Hall. Their aim is to obtain legalization of the profession or at least the right to operate self-managed businesses free of extortion. At the regional level, the Cambodian Confederation of Women’s Organization has successfully lobbied to have a special session on trafficking at the next general assembly of the ASEAN Confederation of Women’s Organizations. The session will initiate a regional campaign to fight the trafficking of women and children and demonstrates Cambodia’s ability to influence regional agendas regarding women’s issues. (See page 74.) PADV and the Ministry of Women’s and Veterans Affairs collaborated to organize Women’s Day 2002. Participants marched from the Cambodiana Hotel to Wat Phnom. Urban Poor The main strategy of development organizations working with the urban poor has been to organize communities and empower them to negotiate slum improvement projects with local authorities. Since urban poor communities throughout Southeast Asia usually live in unhealthy environments on land that floods regularly, is illegally occupied, or is slated for development, another objective has been to negotiate planned evictions with the Municipality. Urban NGOs have assisted communities threatened with eviction by helping them reach group consensus on their relocation and compensation needs, and to select potential relocation sites to propose to the Municipality. A number of these individual efforts have met success, although the Urban Resource Center database indicates that, on average, squatters only remain 1.5 years outside the city before they return. Relations between urban poor groups and the Municipality improved during the mid- to late- 1990s, but appear to have deteriorated since then. The problematic relationship came to light in the wake of the Tonle Bassac fires of 2001 in which 20,000 people lost their homes. A few days after the first fire, the Municipality declared that emergency supplies could only be distributed at 14
the relocation site and not at the fire site. NGOs opposed this because people who lost their homes needed supplies and emergency shelter immediately at the fire site and adequate infrastructure had not yet been installed at the relocation site. After a second large fire ran through another slum, there was an absolute refusal of permission by the Municipality to donate emergency supplies to fire victims at the fire site. Despite the number of agencies working in this sector, NGOs were not able to mount a significant coordinated response. Currently a new effort is underway to renew NGO coordination on advocacy issues regarding the urban poor. (See page 82.) HIV/AIDS The 2001 NGO Statement to the Consultative Group Meeting section on HIV/AIDS indicates that in 2000 approximately 169,000 people (2.8% of the population aged 25-49 years) are living with HIV. The HIV/AIDS sector in Cambodia presents a good mix of HIV/AIDS specialized organizations and NGOs with HIV/AIDS components. The HIV/ AIDS Coordinating Committee with 55 members offers a venue for agencies to network and obtain general information about the sector. However, advocacy activities to date have focused mainly on public education and awareness raising. A few projects are emerging to address this issue, notably the Cambodian Positive Network, which was created with support and technical assistance from KHANA, FHI, and the Policy Project to encourage people living with AIDS to participate in policy dialogues. Other advocacy projects are working with government departments to review their HIV/AIDS policies and implement them. For many organizations, however, HIV/AIDS advocacy continues to be an abstract concept and NGOs need to learn how to make the issue more relevant to themselves, their constituencies, and potential HIV/AIDS advocates coming from the growing HIV positive population in Cambodia. (See page 88.) Children’s Rights Child Rights became an issue in Cambodia when the government signed the UN Convention in 1992. Since then, civil society organizations have worked on child’s rights issues at a variety of levels. In 2001, the NGO Child Rights Committee The Cambodian Positive Network was created with support and technical assistance from KHANA, FHI, and the Policy Project to encourage people living with AIDS to participate in policy dialogues. prepared a parallel report to the government’s report on progress made towards meeting the criteria of the Convention. Members of the committee traveled to Geneva to present their findings and recommendations, many of which were incorporated into the UN’s recommendations to the Cambodian government. A number of NGOs are currently implementing activities that aim to protect children from child labor. For example, in order to mobilize community support for the issue, local NGO LICADHO tries to identify community leaders who have demonstrated concern for the problem before the NGO enters the community with a program designed to promote children’s rights. Using a series of workshops rather than a single intervention, the organization targets department officials, local authorities, parents, children, and concerned community members and establishes a committee with representatives from each group to meet on a regular basis. The strategy is beginning to show success as the committees start to address cases of abuse coming from their own initiative. (See page 92.) Child labor at a brick factory in Kagn Chreach district, Prey Veng province, February 2002. The child labor problem in Cambodia began drawing national attention in the mid-1990s. Increasing Democratic Space 15
Page 1 and 2: advocacy in cambodia: increasing de
Page 3 and 4: executive summary The Cambodian non
Page 5 and 6: sectors reviewed in this document
Page 7 and 8: livelihood of populations, includin
Page 9 and 10: Pursat Rice Miller’s Association,
Page 11 and 12: Protected Forest and Land Dispute:
Page 13 and 14: implementation. Without policy impl
Page 15: drafts incorporated into the new La
Page 19 and 20: Landless Families: O’thkov Villag
Page 21 and 22: Short-term and long-term implicatio
Page 23 and 24: EMOs do not traditionally base thei
Page 25 and 26: or even fearful to solve conflicts,
Page 27 and 28: collection of information on public
Page 29 and 30: each month. Facilitating Engagement
Page 31 and 32: analyzing impact of advocacy activi
Page 33 and 34: communities and NGOs can work with
Page 35 and 36: influencing the legislative process
Page 37 and 38: informal contacts and being able to
Page 39 and 40: CHART OF LEGISLATIVE PROCESS (10) K
Page 41 and 42: considerable public attention, but
Page 43 and 44: lessons learned Advocates have lear
Page 45 and 46: ecommendations The following are re
Page 47 and 48: conclusion Outside of human rights
Page 49 and 50: conclusion of the forum, the govern
Page 51 and 52: level can sustainable resource use
Page 53 and 54: literature, interviews, and field v
Page 55 and 56: Future Considerations The following
Page 57 and 58: Timeline of Land Issues Over the Pa
Page 59 and 60: The new Land Law will require betwe
Page 61 and 62: labor The garment factory labor mov
Page 63 and 64: input from AFL-CIO, the largest lab
Page 65 and 66: intervene are by activating the Lab
Page 67 and 68:
ights have, in principle if not in
Page 69 and 70:
commune council election law The ca
Page 71 and 72:
maximize the group’s collective i
Page 73 and 74:
communication between EMOs and dono
Page 75 and 76:
The CCEL campaign was the first opp
Page 77 and 78:
in every four women (25%) aged 15-4
Page 79 and 80:
estimates the number of sex workers
Page 81 and 82:
elections saw an increase to 14 fem
Page 83 and 84:
healthcare. While many women know t
Page 85 and 86:
losing influence. For this reason,
Page 87 and 88:
plaintiffs at a disadvantage. A sec
Page 89 and 90:
level to increase interaction betwe
Page 91 and 92:
courses for members of the media (p
Page 93 and 94:
economic issues NGOs are advocating
Page 95 and 96:
come together to discuss problems a
Page 97 and 98:
the issue on the government’s age
Page 99 and 100:
premier center for rights-based and
Page 101 and 102:
Penh. Watson, Gabrielle, 2000. Advo
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